Greg Gellas
I'm Greg :)
Quite a few months ago I helped my buddy correct the issues he introduced into his car http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-brag/122804-trails-holograms-oh-my.html He called me again and said he needed help. This time "you just do it". Unless he was a friend I probably wouldn't have taken it as I know from reputation and the last time he was here how difficult this paint can be to work on.
So he showed up and I thought...OH not tooo bad at all...Sure enough I was wrong after really checking it out
This paint was so finiky...I went to take a picture, I snapped two shots. Sure enough just from taking a picture the paint marred...
:chuckle: Just kidding :grinno: The real point of that picture was to try to capture the hazing that can be seen throughout the entire car. It was difficult to capture it with the camera...But you can see here exactly what I mean. I do believe the owner acutally caused this.
You can see it just above the style line above the blinker...
On top of the hazing issue the car had water spots...Also difficult to capture, and those that are seen polished out, but the entire car had outlines of water spots...It was a challenge.
If that wasn't enough, he decided that he would take care of the water spots. Apparently, that didn't work out too well and that is why he decided to call me. He knows the procedure to polish his car, I don't know if he had a small stone in his MF or what...He says it must have been from the polishing compound. But along the entire length of the Clear bra on the hood were some pretty deep scratches..
My process was, since I knew he topped the car with BFWD and then again with Optimum spray wax...AS I told him...I would need to strip the paint. I used a 50/50 mixture of CG wash and clear and Dawn. I love that combo as I truly get lots of foam from it and it stands on the car for a good amount of time. I also cleaned his wheels using Diablo wheel gel.
As for correction, after numerous test spots on the hood, we found the right combination for correction. I always like to use the least aggresive method to correct. I started with 203s on a white pad and it didn't make a dent in the scratches. Moved up to an orange pad, nothing, I was getting frustrated as when I touched the paint it would marr, but this combination wouldn't correct the scratches. :wall I was also using my PC, I decided to stop playing around, step up to the Makita, and use some SIP with an orange pad. I spread it at about 700 rpm, bump it up to 1400, and come back down to about 900. Finally some correction. Unfortunatly I did leave some marks so I went back over the entire hood with an orange pad and 203S. I love how that stuff finishes down. I also went around the entire car with the 203. The real damage was done on the hood, the reast of the car, other than the water spots was in really great shape. The owner really does take care of this thing
I decided not to wipe off the 203, and just follow with Ez Creme glaze to clean the paint of all the polish. I did try wiping the polish off and that was not a great idea, I had to go back over it. After the ez Creme, we went right back to the BFWD. Although I let it sit for about 30 minutes it came off and the paint was super slick.
I did send him home with a goody bag I had an extra spray bottle so I mixed him up some Diablo wheel gel to take home with him as he had some beautiful matt black wheels and didn't want him using any acid based cleaners on the. After that I begged him NOT to do any more correction on his paint. It really isn't a fun car to work on 
It "fights" you the entire way, I also gave him a bottle of Ez Creme glaze so he can do somthing with his pc without doing any damage to the paint. I also threw him a bottle of Fade2Black, why, we found out that his wheels dressed with the Fade2Black look awesome. So I gave him a can of that to take also
So he showed up and I thought...OH not tooo bad at all...Sure enough I was wrong after really checking it out
This paint was so finiky...I went to take a picture, I snapped two shots. Sure enough just from taking a picture the paint marred...
:chuckle: Just kidding :grinno: The real point of that picture was to try to capture the hazing that can be seen throughout the entire car. It was difficult to capture it with the camera...But you can see here exactly what I mean. I do believe the owner acutally caused this.
You can see it just above the style line above the blinker...
On top of the hazing issue the car had water spots...Also difficult to capture, and those that are seen polished out, but the entire car had outlines of water spots...It was a challenge.
If that wasn't enough, he decided that he would take care of the water spots. Apparently, that didn't work out too well and that is why he decided to call me. He knows the procedure to polish his car, I don't know if he had a small stone in his MF or what...He says it must have been from the polishing compound. But along the entire length of the Clear bra on the hood were some pretty deep scratches..
My process was, since I knew he topped the car with BFWD and then again with Optimum spray wax...AS I told him...I would need to strip the paint. I used a 50/50 mixture of CG wash and clear and Dawn. I love that combo as I truly get lots of foam from it and it stands on the car for a good amount of time. I also cleaned his wheels using Diablo wheel gel.
As for correction, after numerous test spots on the hood, we found the right combination for correction. I always like to use the least aggresive method to correct. I started with 203s on a white pad and it didn't make a dent in the scratches. Moved up to an orange pad, nothing, I was getting frustrated as when I touched the paint it would marr, but this combination wouldn't correct the scratches. :wall I was also using my PC, I decided to stop playing around, step up to the Makita, and use some SIP with an orange pad. I spread it at about 700 rpm, bump it up to 1400, and come back down to about 900. Finally some correction. Unfortunatly I did leave some marks so I went back over the entire hood with an orange pad and 203S. I love how that stuff finishes down. I also went around the entire car with the 203. The real damage was done on the hood, the reast of the car, other than the water spots was in really great shape. The owner really does take care of this thing
I decided not to wipe off the 203, and just follow with Ez Creme glaze to clean the paint of all the polish. I did try wiping the polish off and that was not a great idea, I had to go back over it. After the ez Creme, we went right back to the BFWD. Although I let it sit for about 30 minutes it came off and the paint was super slick.
I did send him home with a goody bag
I had an extra spray bottle so I mixed him up some Diablo wheel gel to take home with him as he had some beautiful matt black wheels and didn't want him using any acid based cleaners on the. After that I begged him NOT to do any more correction on his paint. It really isn't a fun car to work on It "fights" you the entire way, I also gave him a bottle of Ez Creme glaze so he can do somthing with his pc without doing any damage to the paint. I also threw him a bottle of Fade2Black, why, we found out that his wheels dressed with the Fade2Black look awesome. So I gave him a can of that to take also 
